smen. These birds may belong to the working guilds,
and all have habits interesting to bird-lovers; but as regards their
value to the world, it is mostly in the shape of food for House People."

"Then it isn't wrong for people to kill these birds for food?"

"No, not if it is done fairly, in a true sportsmanlike spirit, and not
with traps or snares, or in the nesting season, when no bird should be
molested. The true sportsman never shoots a bird out of season, or a
song bird at any time, and it is owing to his care that laws are made to
stop the pot-hunters."

"Are the game birds tree birds, or what?" asked Dodo.

"There are many kinds," said the Doctor. "Some of them have cooing notes
and build their nests in trees; these belong to the Pigeon family. Some
scratch about and feed on the ground, where they also nest, like our
barnyard poultry. Others run along the banks of rivers or on the
sea-beaches, where they wade in shallow water to pick up their food,
like Snipes and Plovers; while others swim with their webbed, feet and
take their food from deep water, like Geese and Ducks. There are a few
game birds in this glass case--some Pigeons and Grouse; suppose we
finish the morning in their company?

"We will call Pigeons the Birds that Coo; and Grouse are some of the
Birds that Scratch, so called because they all have much the same habit
as our domestic fowls of scratching the ground for food and to raise a
dust in which they take a sort of bath. See, this Cooer is called the
Passenger Pigeon."

CHAPTER XXVI

A COOING PAIR

THE PASSENGER PIGEON AND THE MOURNING DOVE

"You all know the Pigeons that are kept about stables and barnyards. You
have often seen them walking with dainty steps to pick up their food,
and have heard the soft crooning 'coo-oo' they give when talking to each
other. They all belong to the Birds that Coo. Their food is taken into
the crop, which can be plainly seen when it is quite full. These birds
feed their young in the same way Hummingbirds and Flickers do; for they
give the little ones softened food from the crop, mixed with a sort of
milky fluid that also comes from the crop. One habit that Pigeons and
Doves have, all their own, is that in drinking they do not raise the
head to swallow like other birds, but keep the beak in the water until
they are through.

"Our domestic Pigeons have beautiful and varied plumage, but to my mind
many wild species surpass them. The two best-know